Shell Share Discussion Threads

[waldron] 07/6/2017 17:57

Jillian Ambrose

7 June 2017 • 5:31pm

The steady decline of oil prices has accelerated after a sharp increase in US oil supplies to drive the market to its lowest level since Opec vowed to extend its programme of supply cuts.

The price of Brent crude plummeted almost 3.5pc to $48.38 per barrel after official US data showed an increase in the country’s crude inventories of 3.3m barrels in a shock to market traders who had expected a drop of 3.1m barrels.

David Madden, of CMC Markets, said: "The oil market has been in decline since the Opec announcement last month, and now that US stockpiles are rising, we may see a continuation of the decline."

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The market offered a muted response as the world’s largest producers agreed last month to extend the six month supply cut deal by nine months. By contrast the initial deal between Opec and non-Opec oil producers lifted prices by a quarter last November.
Bloomberg graph
Oil prices plummeted after new data showed a shock rise in oil supplies Credit: Bloomberg

Market analysts believe that Opec’s struggle to buoy market prices is due to the steady rise of shale rig numbers in the US which threaten to undermine the cuts made in a bid to drain the oil market’s chronic glut.

Fresh data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday that the country’s crude production could hit a record 10 million barrel of oil a day next year.

This rate is even higher than the current rate of 9.3 million barrels and almost as much as top exporter Saudi Arabia. It would also top a near fifty year record set during the US oil hey-day in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels a day.

Even flaring diplomatic tensions in the Middle East this week failed to drive prices higher for more than a few hours.

Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with Qatar with the support of Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates lifting oil prices briefly before the fell back into negative territory.

Since then prices have slipped lower amid concern that the Middle Eastern rift could cause the pact to unravel if Opec members choose to breach the quotas rather than co-operate.

[waldron] 06/6/2017 15:58

dividend

Pounds sterling and euro equivalents announcement date June 12, 2017


Payment date June 26, 2017

[grupo] 02/6/2017 14:50

ST. PETERSBURG--Top officials and executives from major oil-producing countries and leading companies said that U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord was unlikely to have a major effect on efforts to reduce carbon emissions, as technological advances make cleaner forms of energy more economically viable.

Speaking at an economic forum in Russia, chief executives from BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA said they are still expecting the shift to cleaner energy to continue, including in the U.S.

"We are in an energy transition. The energy transition is unstoppable," said Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell. "Ultimately it is policy, public sentiment, but also technology that's driving it. It is fundamentally a force that cannot be stopped, irrespective of what any actors, even if they are large actors like the United States, decide to do in relation to Paris."

Mr. Trump said Thursday that he will withdraw the U.S. from the Paris accord in an effort to boost the country's industry and independence.

He said the U.S. would begin negotiations to either re-enter the Paris deal under new terms or create a new deal that he considers fair, an idea immediately rejected by several countries.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said he expected U.S. companies to continue to push forward new technology to reduce emissions.

"I wouldn't write off the United States' contribution to climate action. In the United States, power is dispersed. There are companies, innovation. The United States will end up being a significant player in the climate conversation," he said.

Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French oil company Total, said companies would continue to invest in cleaner forms of energy, a decision driven by companies' search for profit.

"Consumers want cheap energy," he said. "We want to stay a major energy company in 20-25 years."

Still, Mohammed Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said achieving the aim of the Paris accord of keeping average global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, would be tough without U.S. involvement.

Accomplishing the goal "without the United States looks very challenging and almost a task that the world will have to revisit," he said.

Write to James Marson at [e-mail] and Elena Cherney at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2017 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

[grupo guitarlumber] 27/5/2017 09:22

SAUDI ARAMCO IS DOING A IPO NEXT YEAR AND HAS RECENTLY BOUGHT AND WILL INVEST MORE
IN AMERICAS LARGEST REFINERY

THE QUESTION

WHY DOESNT ARAMCO BUY UP A BIG CHUNK OF AMERICAN SHALE INDUSTRY SO IT HAS MORE
CONTROL OF OIL SUPPLY AND DOES ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FAST GROWTH STOP IT

[the grumpy old men] 18/5/2017 15:07

By Ron Bousso | LONDON

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is seeking to sell its gas fields in Tunisia for some $500 million (£383.8 million), sources said, as the Anglo-Dutch company pushes forward with its vast disposal programme.

The Tunisian assets, accounting for some 65 percent of the North African country's gas production, were acquired as part of Shell's $54 billion take over of BG Group last year.
PUBLICITÉ

The assets include two offshore gas fields -- Miskar, fully owned by Shell and Hasdrubal, 50 percent owned by Shell -- as well as an onshore production facility.

In 2015, the fields produced 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to BG Group's annual report of the same year.

According to two industry sources and another banking source, Shell is seeking to raise around $500 million from the sale.

A Shell spokeswoman declined to comment.

Shell has sold or agreed to sell more than $20 billion in assets over the past year as part of a $30 billion divestment programme aimed at reducing debt following the BG acquisition.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso, editing by David Evans)

[ariane] 13/5/2017 10:13

Ex-dividend date RDS A ADSs and RDS B ADSs May 17, 2017
Ex-dividend date RDS A and RDS B shares May 18, 2017
Record date May 19, 2017
Scrip reference share price announcement date May 25, 2017
Closing of scrip election and currency election (See Note) June 5, 2017
Pounds sterling and euro equivalents announcement date June 12, 2017
Payment date June 26, 2017

[lance corporal winstanley ash] 04/5/2017 08:16

Good results

[waldron] 03/5/2017 11:37

04 May 2017
First quarter 2017 results

[waldron] 30/4/2017 14:23

Oil’s big glut isn’t shrinking, it’s resting elsewhere

The crude stockpile fell in each of the first three weeks of April
Published: 14:42 April 30, 2017
Gulf News
Bloomberg


London: Excess crude oil inventories in the US are finally and clearly in retreat as OPEC’s output agreement nears the end of its fourth month. But those oil bulls looking for higher prices shouldn’t get too excited just yet — the surplus may just be moving elsewhere.

True, the crude stockpile fell in each of the first three weeks of April, and the 3.64 million-barrel decline in the last of those was the biggest weekly drop of the year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Over the period, inventories were drawn down at an average rate of 326,000 barrels a day, and a further 63,000 barrels a day have been drawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as part of a programme of sales put in place last year.

This is far from spectacular, but it does buck the seasonal trend. US crude oil inventories typically rise during the first four months of the year, so the draw this year has begun about a month earlier than usual.

US refineries are helping to drain the glut. The amount they processed has soared as plants have come back into operation after normal seasonal maintenance. Volumes have climbed to 17.285 million barrels a day, the highest in data that goes back 35 years. Rates could climb even further in the weeks ahead — expansions at several plants across the country have boosted capacity to 18.62 million barrels a day, up by around 300,000 barrels over the same time last year.

Refined products

This all ought to be good news for the bulls, but we need to look deeper. If the products being produced are not consumed, the glut is simply being transferred from crude to refined products.

Stockpiles of most refined products usually fall in the early part of the year. But middle distillates — which include heating oil, diesel and jet fuel — have been the only major refined product group where inventories were falling abnormally fast. They started falling in early February and were down 13 per cent by mid-April.

In the most recent week’s data, the volume of gasoline and middle distillates in storage rose, more than offsetting the draw down in crude stockpiles. Gasoline stores have been increasing for the last two weeks, bucking seasonal trends. Excluding the SPR, total US oil inventories, including crude and refined products, rose by more than 6.6 million barrels in last week’s data — their biggest increase since early February. Hardly evidence of a rebalancing.

In order to really clear the glut, crude must first be processed into products and then those products need to be consumed. But the early surge in US oil use seems to be waning. Although four-week-average gasoline deliveries — a proxy for demand — soared in February and March, they have plateaued at around 9.3 million barrels a day since late March, down around 100,000 barrels a day year on year. It’s a natural consequence of the 21 per cent average increase in retail gas prices so far this year compared with the same period in 2016. Middle distillate demand has also slipped back from its pickup earlier this year.

Overseas shipments

There’s more bad news for the bulls. Sure, US exports of crude have soared after a 40-year ban was lifted in December 2015 — overseas shipments jumped to 1.15 million barrels a day in last week’s data, the second highest level on record. That helps to drain the crude glut, but may just be moving it elsewhere.

At the same time, imports from Middle East Opec countries show no sign of falling. With delivery times to the Gulf coast averaging 42 days, output cuts made before mid-March ought to be reflected by now in lower arrivals. It’s as if the crude that’s been extracted in the US is just swapping places with that being extracted in the Middle East.

Oil bulls should worry that, far from easing, the US oil glut is just being shifted downstream and overseas. Opec has more work to do to get the market back into balance, and at the very least will need to extend its current accord when it meets May 25.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg First Word. Previously he worked as a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

[waldron] 29/4/2017 16:00

04 May 2017
First quarter 2017 results

[grupo guitarlumber] 28/4/2017 19:02

Exxon Profit Jump a Sign of Strengthening Oil Companies -3rd Update
28/04/2017 2:55pm
Dow Jones News

Shell A (LSE:RDSA)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Friday 28 April 2017
Click Here for more Shell A Charts.

By Bradley Olson and Anne Steele

The world's biggest oil companies are seeing their highest quarterly profits in more than a year.

Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported its best quarter since 2015, notching a $4 billion profit. It was more than double what it posted in the first quarter a year ago, when crude prices fell to the lowest level since 2003.

Chevron Corp., which reported a loss last year, on Friday posted a profit of $2.7 billion. The rosy results came a day after French energy company Total SA reported a 77% rise.

Shares of Exxon, down 10% so far this year, climbed 1.5% premarket to $82.44. Chevron shares rose 2.5%.

The improvements reflect a partial recovery from low oil prices after a plunge in 2014, but the optimism is tempered by growing concerns over whether a frenzied return to U.S. drilling will once again swamp markets.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, which will report early next month, are also expected to show sharp increases. The improved performance stems from both higher prices and revenue from new projects that have come online after years of multi-billion investments in far-flung places.

"These companies are cutting their cost structures, said Brian Youngberg, an energy analyst at Edward Jones. "They are leaner and have managed to get more out of each dollar they spend, and it is showing in their results."

As oil prices recovered in the last year to prices above $50 a barrel, U.S. oil companies returned to shale fields at a breakneck pace. The number of rigs operating has more than doubled from a year ago, according to RigData. U.S. production has risen to about 9.3 million barrels a day, just 3% shy of the 2015 peak.

The increase has been driven in part by lower costs that have improved drilling prospects in a number of fields, as well as positive sentiment stemming from a production cut from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Still, some investors and market analysts are concerned that the pace of the U.S. return to drilling has been too hot, raising the prospect that new shale production could bring so much new supply that prices will remain mired around $50 a barrel for years.

While the companies have managed to generate enough cash at that price to pay for new investment and dividends, executives have acknowledged that it will be difficult for them to grow significantly unless oil prices rise further.

Exxon lost money for the ninth straight quarter in its U.S. drilling business, losing $18 million, an improvement from a loss of more than $800 million a year ago. Still, the continued struggles to turn a profit in that business has troubled some investors, given that Exxon and Chevron have made shale operations a major focus for future growth and profitability.

Both companies have unveiled dramatic growth plans for the Permian basin in West Texas and New Mexico. Chevron said its U.S. production operations earned $80 million in the quarter.

Earnings growth for oil-and-gas companies could hit double digits in the first quarter of 2017, said Joseph Tanious, senior investment strategist for Bessemer Trust. "When oil prices were dipping lower, that was having a drag on the overall results for the S&P 500," he said. "Now we're seeing the opposite of that."

Write to Bradley Olson at [e-mail] and Anne Steele at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2017 09:40 ET (13:40 GMT)

[waldron] 26/4/2017 15:01

Oil supermajors dig out of doldrums as cash poised to surge
By Rakteem Katakey on 4/26/2017

(Bloomberg) -- Oil majors' struggle against crude’s collapse is starting to ease, giving some companies enough cash to pay shareholders without piling on more debt.

The world’s five biggest non-state oil producers, known as the supermajors, probably increased cash from operations by a combined 67% last quarter from a year earlier, according to HSBC Bank Plc analysts Gordon Gray and Kim Fustier. That may allow some to cover dividends and capital spending without borrowing for the first time since 2012, they said.

In the past three years, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp., Total SA and BP Plc have canceled billions of dollars of projects, dumped thousands of jobs and amassed towering debts to weather crude’s decline. While prices are still half their 2014 level, a partial recovery, coupled with spending cuts, contributed to “sweet-spot221; conditions in the first quarter that probably drove up earnings, according to Morgan Stanley.

The “macro environment was favorable for the majors during the first quarter,” said Martijn Rats, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, citing higher prices and resilient refining margins. “In addition, cost reductions are still coming through,” helping bring a “significant improvement in net income,” he said.

The five companies combined are expected to more than double first-quarter net income, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Chevron will return to profit while Shell’s earnings will rise to a seven-quarter high, the estimates show. Exxon, Total and BP may post their biggest profits since September 2015.

“The oil price is a big thing, but the other thing is they’ve also been helping themselves by taking operating costs out of the business,” said Jason Gammel, a London-based analyst at Jefferies International Ltd. “We are at oil-price levels where most of these companies are pretty close to covering their dividend.”

The big five oil producers also operate refineries and petrochemical plants, giving them a safety net during crude’s downturn when earnings from oil and gas production sank. Refining margins rose during the worst of the slump as the cost of the raw material -- crude oil -- fell while demand for fuels stayed strong. Margins have since narrowed but remain buoyant.

Yet doubts remain. Oil’s recovery has stalled this year as a revival in U.S. shale production threatens an attempt by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to eliminate a global oversupply. Although benchmark Brent crude rose more than 50% last year, prices are down about 9% in 2017.

Amid concern that OPEC and its partners will fail to reduce stockpiles significantly, energy companies have performed worst in the MSCI World Index this year, tumbling from pole position in 2016. After rising 44% last year, BP’s shares are down 12% in 2017, while Shell’s B shares are about 11% lower in London. Exxon has dropped 9.5%, Chevron 9.3% and Total 2.2%.

The majors won’t come roaring back until oil prices rally further, according to Alastair Syme, an analyst at Citigroup Inc.

“The sweet-spot of financial firepower -– and therefore higher returns to shareholders –- still requires significant price recovery,” Syme said in an April 19 note, downgrading both Shell and BP. While the companies have offered shareholders stock in place of cash, and implemented hefty cost cuts, they still haven’t adequately tackled the high cost of dividends, he said.

Dividend yields at Shell and BP, which fell through 2016 as crude started to recover, have risen this year, typically a signal that investors fear a cut in payouts.

BP declined to comment when contacted by email. Shell referred Bloomberg to Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden’s comments earlier this year, when he said free cash flow “more than covered our cash dividend” in the fourth quarter.

France’s Total will kick off the supermajors’ first-quarter earnings season on April 27, with Exxon and Chevron following the next day. BP will report on May 2 and Shell on May 4.

“You’d hope by now the cost and spending cuts start showing up in the accounts,” said Iain Armstrong, an analyst at Brewin Dolphin Ltd., which owns BP and Shell shares. “Benefits of oil prices will be a major factor and how much of that the companies have been able to capture with lower costs.”

[grupo guitarlumber] 24/4/2017 19:46

BRUSSELS -- European energy firms pledged Monday to finance half the cost of a natural-gas link from Russia to Germany, lending support to a pipeline plan that is fueling tensions within the European Union.

A consortium of five companies -- Engie SA, OMV AG, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Uniper SE and Wintershall Holding GmbH -- said they would provide up to EUR4.75 billion ($5.1 billion) in long-term financing to Nord Stream 2 AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Russia's state-owned PAO Gazprom.

The move highlights Europe's complicated relationship with Russia, and comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.'s request for a waiver of sanctions so it could resume an oil venture with a Russian partner.

While European firms seek to protect access to Russia's market and resources, most EU countries oppose the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine and fear its push to project more power across the world. That dichotomy has pitted EU nations against each other, with some calling Nord Stream 2 a Trojan horse put forth by Russia to exploit European disagreements while others, led by Germany, are championing the project as a key energy initiative.

About a dozen EU countries claim that allowing Gazprom to double the existing Nord Stream pipeline's capacity would increase Europe's reliance on Russian gas while enabling Moscow to cut back on eastern routes through Ukraine and Belarus. That would threaten the bloc's energy security, while also undermining a key diplomatic objective for Brussels: supporting Kiev amid its conflict with Moscow.

"There will need to be a very tough discussion," an EU official said Monday. "Nord Stream is clearly a divisive project; we'll need to do some kind of damage control."

EU sanctions against Russia are not an obstacle to the funding agreement between Gazprom and its European partners, said Nord Stream 2's representative to Brussels, Sebastian Sass.

Each European firm will provide up to EUR950 million in long- and short-term loans, according to the deal. The Russian gas giant will tap more than EUR1.4 billion of the cash this year, and access the rest as it decides on how to finance the pipeline, the lenders said.

"The financial commitment by the European companies underscores the Nord Stream 2 project's strategic importance for the European gas market," Gazprom, its European partners and the pipeline company said in a joint statement.

Monday's agreement follows the EU's admission last month that Brussels cannot legally block the proposed pipeline, which would be ready by the end of 2019. Nord Stream 2 would add another 55 billion cubic meters to annual gas flows to Germany, about 14% of the EU's yearly consumption.

Polish competition authorities previously blocked the five European companies from taking a 50% stake in Nord Stream 2. Undeterred, the firms continued to support the project. By guaranteeing half the funds Gazprom needs to bankroll the link, European firms have signaled their confidence that the project won't be halted by EU bureaucrats.

In an attempt to find a political solution to the divisive issue, the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said it will seek a mandate from EU governments to negotiate with Russia on terms that would govern use of Nord Stream 2.

It remains unclear whether the commission will get a green light to approach Moscow for an agreement. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel had told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Berlin would strive to prevent EU involvement in Nord Stream 2.

"Nord Stream 2 is a business undertaking that, as usual, we won't comment on," said Economy Ministry spokeswoman Tanja Alemany Sanchez de León.

Berlin has long argued that the pipeline is a commercial project, with no room for government interference as long as it complies with German and EU laws.

"What is certain is that this project is of great importance for Germany, certainly they will be very much involved in pushing it through," a European diplomat in Brussels said. "The discussion has reached a point where all the sides voiced their concerns...I'm not quite sure what might happen next."

Write to Emre Peker at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 24, 2017 13:48 ET (17:48 GMT)